Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I'm sure I could go on and on about science fiction and how it contains motifs of advanced technology, space and time travel, etc etc. But since no one mentioned it in class earlier, I decided to point out instead the massive shift in real-life society that has been caused by the genre. Everything from comic books to movies to short stories in the science fiction world have created just that; totally new worlds. New places and people and technologies for people to explore and get completely immersed in, which many do. I know I'm guilty of being one of those overly-obsessed members of the Sci-Fi and fantasy fandom who wishes she could try her hand at extracting info from people's dreams or working on a starship, and would fall over dead from excitement at the mere sight of Nathan Fillion out on the streets. I'd argue that Sci-Fi/fantasy have created an entire new society in our own world.

That being said, my experience with science fiction has stemmed from early exposure to the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS, thanks to my stepfather who shares my love for all things geek. Since then I've been hooked. I go to the movies at least once a week. I've written more fanfiction that I'd care to admit and I've been actively involved as a member and creator of various online text-based roleplay sites based on Star Wars, Harry Potter, DC and Marvel comics, Firefly, X-men, The Host, Twilight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney-verse, and other original fantasy/Sci-Fi worlds.

Some interesting pieces of science fiction I've run across in my life include but are definitely not limited to The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, and White) by Ted Dekker (which is apparently a series now including Green, though I didn't know that), The Kingdom Keepersby Ridley Pearson, and the Maximum Ride, Daniel X, and Witch & Wizardseries by James Patterson. Now I realize I sound like I love kiddie books, haha. Well my favorite book ever is The Hobbit, but I assure you I like all kinds. I am currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, which might be a new favorite... Anyway I've rambled long enough. Also, the link in my post title is my favorite YouTube video of all-time, so I thought I would share. :)

4 comments:

I'm very much the same way. Though I tend not to write so much fan fiction, or at all really. One of my favorite SF titles (yes it's Schlock Mercenary. I'm probably one of the worst fan boys) is supposedly for the whole family, so I guess there's no shame in reading books that are supposed to be for a younger age group.

I play and have GM'd a couple of Mafia games on DrunkDuck.com, seeing the sheer number of things you've based your RP'ing stuff on makes me feel as insignificant as the power to destroy a planet next to the power of the force.

Jordan, I'd like to read some of your fanfic, if you'd like to e-mail me some of it privately. You should make the acquaintance of my former student Marjorie M. Liu, who started out writing fanfic, especially X-Men, and now writes her own original best sellers.

Also, playing devil's advocate: Other than the creation of a large fandom of avid consumers (which also could be said of, say, NASCAR, or SEC football), what changes in the "real world" can be credited to science fiction? And are all those changes necessarily positive? (See, for example, Gary Westfahl's 2003 Locus Online essay "Columbia, and the Dreams of Science Fiction.")

Yes you did ramble on too long ;) I like your overall grasp of science fiction. You of course have pulled me even farther into geek-dom than I already was. It's nice how you point out how large the overlap between SciFi and fantasy is. Charlie was a smart man to expose you to Star Wars at an early age. You're better for it :) I too had the original trilogy on VHS as a kid.

Oh and I completely forgot that the Maximum Ride series is science fiction. Yet another series I need to eventually read.

Also, Jordan, thanks much for the music-video link! This and the Ray Bradbury video I linked to earlier are closely related to the sf musical genre known as filk -- songs written and performed by fans, primarily for other fans.